Tuesday, 22 June 2010

How to beat Bangladesh in ODIs

It's easy. Simply make a total that Jamie Siddons doesn't think they can chase. Then he'll tell them not to bother.

'I'm not going to let anyone criticise the team for our approach,' said Siddons, after Bangladesh subjected the crowd at Dambulla to 'three and a half hours of torture', including a period of 26 overs where they hit three boundaries, two of which were unintended. 'If Tamim had made 150, we could have chased 350-380... but Imrul and Junaid had no chance... no chance'.

I admired Siddons and Bangladesh when they were in England last month. He does them, and cricket, a grave disservice here. The game is played on the basis that both sides compete. Anything else is not just unacceptable, but dangerous. Siddons, who leads a young and impressionable team, should be carpeted for this.